220 



KEY AyD DESCRIPTION 



ui:)per ueck bare of feathers, and with more or less of erectile 

 processes on the bare portions. The breast is furnished with 

 a tuft of hair-like feathers, and the tail feathers and upper tail 



coverts are tipped 

 with chestnut. The 

 common domestic 

 turkey has white 

 tips to the tail feath- 

 ers and tail coverts. 

 This noble game bird 

 of wooded regions is 

 tlie original of the 

 domestic race, and is 

 becoming each year 

 more rare. This wild 

 species is divided 

 into four varieties, 

 the form given and 

 the three following. 



Length, 40-50 ; wiiiir, 

 18-22 ; tail, 10-19. 

 United States from 

 Chesapeake Bay south- 

 ward to the Gulf of 

 Mexico and westward 

 to the riains. The Mex- 

 ican Turkey (olO». M. (j. mcxkana) of the southwest, from 'J'exas to 

 Ariznna. and southward into Mexico, has the upper tail coverts tipped 

 with buffy white. The Florida Wild Turkey (.•310''. .V. y. osceula) of 

 southern Florida is a snialUr. and darker hird. The i)riniaries are much 

 less regularly barred with white. The Rio Grande Turkey (310":. M. g. 

 ellidti) of the lowlands of Texas and nnrtlit astern Mexico can be dis- 

 tiufcuished from all the others by the dark buff ediiinjis on the tail, and 

 upper and lower tail coverts, in contrast with the white on the same parts 

 of the Mexican turkey, and the deep, dark, reildish-chestnut of the com- 

 mon wild turkey. The brilliantly colored European and Ring-necked 

 Pheasants have been introduced and more or less acclimated in several of 

 the states. The inales are .'W long and the females 25 long. The females 

 are plainly colored. As most of the specimens are hybrid forms descrip- 

 tions would be of little value. 



WUd Turkey 



